Property Malaysia

The sprawling and massively successful Mid Valley City is home to a couple of popular spots, like the Megamall (crowded every weekend), the Cititel Hotel (budget hotel in a prime location) and the Boulevard offices (commanding premium rental returns). And if you’ve been here in the past year, you’ve noticed that they are building the next phase of these buildings in view of the success of the earlier phase.

First off, they are expanding the shopping centre, and have completed some of the Northpoint shop offices on the lower floor. The next launch will be the Northpoint condominiums which is part of the SOHO development, where they are offering a city lifestyle by combining home and office in a single place.

In terms of location, this place is very well connected. Besides being in a central location between KL, Bangsar and PJ, they have the operational KTM line, nearby LRT station and of course the Federal Highway. There will also be a Plaza, which is a landscaped park within the area.

At the moment, details are a little sketchy, but we will bring more details when it is officially launched.

Malaysia Building Society Bhd (MBSB) has has launched MBSB EZ-i, an Islamic property financing, which uses both fixed and floating-rate mechanism. It is basically a hybrid of its existing Property Financing-i and is based on the Bai Bithaman Ajil (Deferred Payment Sale) concept.

According to a report in the Edge:

MBSB said the Islamic product boasted of unique features and versatility as compared to other conventional and Islamic mortgage products. It said it offered competitive rates throughout the mortgage tenure with rebates.
“As a highlight, customers have an added protection because the Ceiling Profit Rate is capped and therefore customers can benefit from the low profit rate environment,” MBSB said.

Further on:

MBSB said MBSB EZ-i was targeted at both Muslims and non-Muslims house buyers.
“We anticipate this product to be a hit with its features that are distinctive and appealing yet flexible and applicable to our customers’ preference and lifestyle.
“Undoubtedly, we hope to come up with more products such as this in future,” said MBSB chief executive officer Ahmad Farid Omar.

Some of the features of this MBSB EZ-i are:

• Ceiling Profit Rate is capped Competitive rates throughout the tenure

• Hassle free refinancing process

• Guaranteed rebates

• Fixed monthly installments

• High margin of financing up to 105% (subject to MBSB’s terms and conditions)

• Longer repayment period (up to 30 years or up to age 65, whichever is earlier)

• Mortgage Reducing Term Assurance (MRTA) with low yearly premium

• Fast approval

• Wide coverage of repayment channel via MBSB’s branch network/ BSN Giro

For more information, visit here.

We were in Penang recently, and it was an opportunity for us to check out the property market and overall sentiment of new projects on the island. The last time we were there was almost 3 years ago, and thing have changed a lot in terms of new developments.

Two big developers are certainly gearing up for new launches over the next 12 months - IJM Properties with their numerous projects (like College Heights and Desa Pinang 2), and E&O Pr

Incidentally, the parent companies for both these developers have a long presence in Penang. Other than that, there are many other smaller projects all over the island, and based on our observation, they are concentrated on these areas:

• Along the coastal road of Tanjung Bunga and Batu Feringghi. These are basically upmarket condos and luxury hillside bungalows. Some the ones by Ivory properties are quite impressive, they seem to have a sizeable landbank on the island.

• In and around Georgetown. Naturally being near the town, the projects are smaller condos.

• In Bayan Baru. This area is set to be a new growth area, with numerous landed projects there around the new proposed state administrative capital.

With the economy progressing and number of citizens on the island growing in an exponential rate, the need for middle and upper class housing is therefore increasing too. Penang folks, of course, still prefer to stay on the island, so the need affordable housing is correlational. On the downside, there are more and more people and cars on limited roads and landspace, but it is only inevitable for a small island like Penang.

You can check out our previous series of articles on new projects in Penang and Butterworth:

Penang Property Focus Part 1: Harbour Place and Taman Sri Bayan
Penang Property Focus Part 2: Putra Marine Resort and the CEO
Penang Property Focus Part 3: Bandar Laguna Merbuk and Taman Seri Pantai
Penang Property Focus Part 4: Alila and Bayu Mutiara
Penang Property Focus Part 5: The Mayfair Penang and D’Residence Bayan Mutiara
Penang Property Focus Part 6: Bandar Baru Air Putih and Taman Seri Bayan

Following our preview of this place some time back, we are now doing a full review. This project has embarked on a huge marketing campaign with banners all over the KLCC area and print ads in the newspapers. The management and their directors have also been interviewed and featured in the local business papers.

Idaman Residence is situated on a piece of land along Jalan P. Ramlee, opposite the developer’s flagship Menara TA. This spot, opposite the Mandarin Oriental, has a vibrant nightlife especially along Jalan Pinang, and has an excellent view of the Petronas Twin Towers if you’re looking for that.

Obviously the marketing people are pushing the proximity to the KLCC park and amenities like the LRT, business centre, shopping paradise, food haven, and pretty much everything the city centre has to offer.

The site itself is fairly large, able to accommodate lots of driveway space and surface parking. The bulk of the bays are located indoors. There is also an impressive entrance foyer with water feature and landscaping. Ground floor is where they have the facilities like swimming pools, gym, function halls, and a playground. In all, there isn’t much in facilities compared to what is offered by the competition, but they are marketing it from the viewpoint that whatever facilities you need is within walking distance from the condo itself.

They are emphasizing quite a bit on the security features of this place, with Entrance Guard Sentry, Swipe Card system, panic button, CCTV, intercom to guards, and an assurance ‘that the best people are acquired to safeguard you’. Actually top notch safety features like these are standard features in most of the luxury condos in this area. Almost everyone is offering the same high-tech security systems, so it’s really difficult to tell if one system is superior to the next.

There are 9 units on each floor, they are either facing KLCC or not. The 9 units are actually one of each main type (A to I), and all units of the same type (or its variant) are located on the same location in the overall layout. For example, the unit at the northernmost point is always type A on every floor. As for the unit layouts, there is the variety to choose from, but they range from 2 bedrooms to 3+1. All of them have irregular shaped footprints, so-designed to give the building façade an angular look. This feel is accentuated by the balconies – it plays an integral part that makes the building design appealing. The balconies themselves are almost always tapering in width, long and narrow, at times wrapping around a corner of the unit. We find the design concept refreshing.

If you count all the variations of the main 9 layouts, there are in fact a total of 25 different designs. So you can’t really complaint about a lack of choices. Type H (2 bedroom, 877 to 929sq.ft) and B (2 bedroom 1,035 to 1,075sq.ft) are the smallest, they have more of a studio unit feel to them, investors targeting expatriate renters will be looking at these types closely. Type I have 3+1 rooms but are of mid-size (1,607 to 1,793sq.ft), so the living area and other rooms are slightly smaller. The largest units with 3+1 rooms are Type A (2,174 and 2,096sq.ft) and D (2,100 and 2,107sq.ft). They’re not really big in comparison to some units offered by their competition, but it is the overall concept of this development to have the units in the narrow 1,000 to 2,000sq.ft area range, as it fits the target market of their choice.

The average pricing of the units is at RM750sq.ft, which is average for this area. There are 248 units in all, which is quite high density.

On the whole, we like Idaman Residence. The location cannot be faulted (peak hour traffic jam notwithstanding), its proximity to that famous landmark should sell more than a few units. The odd shaped design sets them apart from some of their neighbours, we especially like the façade and emphasis on large living rooms. So really, no major complaints. They are throwing in some freebies with the unit such as kitchen cabinets and some appliances.

Many people view that Idaman Residence has entered the luxury KLCC market at the time when the market is almost saturated and with the outlook for this niche softening. While this may be true, the developers are optimistic of selling well, and the sales indicators look that way too. Although the pool of potential buyers is a lot smaller than it was one year ago (going by the adage that “those who want to buy have bought elsewhere earlier already”), there are still emerging buyers entering the small niche. This, in general bodes well for our economy, since a sizeable percentage of this market are made up of foreigners.

There aren’t many independent real estate / property blogs around, especially those that aren’t for commercial purposes or run by agents and developers.

But for those who are interested to learn more about flipping real estate or renting out your property, here’s a good place to start.

Real Estate Answered

It is tailored for Americans and their tax laws, but there is good advice to get you started on the following topics:

• Getting Started
• Flipping
• Foreclosures
• Landlording
• Financing
• Definitions

The site owner, Jon also answers questions by readers and hosts free teleconferencing sessions. We really like the straight forward style of the website and the concise way he writes.

We know, we know. There’s probably one too many property exhibition in KL these weeks days. In these last 4 weeks there has been 3 big ones by different organizers, I won’t even go into the specifics here (you can search the last few posts for details).

Anyway, on 6-9 April there is still the biggest one to come - The National level MAPEX. The last one held last month was actually organized by the KL branch of Rehda, this one is the big one.

Details are as follows:

Location: Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur
Date: 6/4/2006 - 9/4/2006
Time: 10:00am - 9:30pm

For enquiries, you can contact the organisers:

REHDA Malaysia
No. 2C Jalan SS5D/6 Kelana Jaya
47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 03 - 7803 2978
Fax: 03 - 7803 5285 / 03 - 7805 1206

So if you haven’t been to the others, and want to look for some info or interested to buy, mark the dates in your calendar.

This will be good news for the sluggish property market - the government has announced that the real estate sector of our economy recorded RM56 billion (USD$15.1 billion) in terms of transactions for the year 2005, and they expect the new trends to emerge in 2006.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said that the government was aware the property market was undergoing new trends from this year onwards as more Malaysians moved to urban areas.

According to the Edge:

Malaysia had a young population with about 62% living in urban areas while fewer people were in the rural areas, he said at the 17th National Real Estate Convention in Kuala Lumpur on March 21.
“This is the trend the real estate sector is heading towards,” Dompok said, adding there were more mega malls and larger and larger shopping centres.
He also said if Malaysia wanted to be a regional shopping paradise, the sector had to provide better services compared to the other countries in this region.

Further on, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok also adds that

On the real estate investment trusts (REITs), Dompok said the government took cognizance of the REITS on the real estate industry as they provided an avenue for investments.
Dompok said the Employees Provident Fund and other government investment bodies also planned to increase their property investments this year.

However, what is interesting is that the minister noted that the government did not intend to initiate policies and strategies to stabilise the oversupply situation and instead allowed the market to find its own equilibrium.

In our opinion, this is a good move by the government in terms of non-interference, it may be a better to let the market mature by itself and find its own footing. While pockets of over supply may appear in limited areas (we’re thinking luxury condos in certain upmarket areas), by and large the market can stabilize itself, barring any international or regional financial crisis.

For the full report, you can read it here.

SPNB, which is embarking on a project to revive abandoned housing projects in Sarawak, has delivered the first 426 homes for the employees of Bintulu Port Sdn. Bhd.

The homes is set on 70 acres and are of double-storey detached, semi-detached and detached houses. The project was left idle in 2003 when the previous developer ran into some financial difficulties. SPNB was requested by the Ministry of Finance to acquire and revitalise this housing project which was launched in 1997. SPNB is a unit of the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

According to a report in the Edge:

• SPNB had taken over this 0% to 80%-completed project without any additional costs to the purchasers and at the same time had to absorb the deficit incurred.

• The cost to rehabilitate amounted to more than RM33 million, the works for this project started in January 2004 after SPNB had received consent from the relevant parties.

• The management also pledged to continue to work towards reviving stalled housing projects in Malaysia. To date, SPNB had rehabilitated and delivered 11 abandoned housing projects comprising 3,527 housing units with a total estimated value of RM114 million throughout Malaysia.

• This year, SPNB had targeted to rehabilitate 13 abandoned housing projects worth more than RM196 million.

• Currently, SPNB is revitalising 12 housing projects comprising of 6,026 houses with construction cost of RM207 million, of which nine projects are expected to be delivered before year-end.

• Since the MoF had appointed SPNB as the implementation agent for rehabilitation of abandoned housing projects in 2001, SPNB had been entrusted to undertake and rehabilitate 177 abandoned housing projects comprising 52,271 units of houses with an estimated project value of RM4.3 billion.

If you’re a regular in the property expo circuit (and we know a lot of people who are), you will know that IJM Properties is gearing up for a few medium and large projects around the city. Some of the ones them have been highlighted here in Property Malaysia before (PJ8, Riana Green, Ampersand).

Another one on the way is Monte Bayu in the Pandan / Cheras area. At the moment, they are open for registration, the sales and marketing is handled by a local real estate agent.

Monte Bayu is located in the Jalan Bunga Mawar area, just up from the Taman Seraya school. The location is enviable, it affords a city skyline view on one side, and green hillscape on the other side.

From the looks of it, its going to two types of typical units on offer, Type A, with 3 bedroom 850sq.ft and Type B which also has 3 bedrooms and is sized at a larger 1,150sq.ft. At this point, the sales people are unable to tell us the pricing structure and facilities. But this will be made known when they are almost ready to launch.

Knowing IJM Properties, we can expect a product with above average facilities and competitive pricing from them. They have set their sights to be a major property player in the country. We’ll keep you posted on any latest news on the project. Hopefully, we will be able to post a full review soon, too.

Long, long time ago, before Formula 1 landed in Malaysia in the form of the multi-million ringgit Sepang F1 circuit, there was the Shah Alam Motorsport Paradise (SAMP) in Section 13, or more commonly known as Batu Tiga. In its heyday, it was mainly used for the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix and the frequent kapchai championships that Malaysian bikers love so much. If we remember correctly, international movie star Jackie Chan shot his drag racing scenes at the tracks for the movie Thunderbolt back in 1995 (we remember seeing the Shah Alam Stadium in the background).

With the advent of the age of Formula One, the modest SAMP slowly died away, and now it has become part of the development of D’Kayangan, leased to the Lebar Daun Group. The site is large, 163 acres in all, situated beside the Federal Highway and Elite Highway, and surrounded by landmarks such as the aforementioned Shah Alam Stadium, the Aquatic center, the Shah Alam club, the state mosque, the brand new Tesco, Makro and Giant.

D’Kayangan is undoubtedly upmarket, with large landed units in the form of superlink homes, semi-D villas and cluster homes and bungalows. Three earlier phases that have sold out (or almost sold out) are Azulea, which are 2 ½ storey 40’ x 80’ semi-D villa (3,541sq.ft), Athalia and Arcelia, which are both double storey semi-D cluster homes, on a 35’ x 70’ plot, build up at 2,689sq.ft and 2,128sq.ft respectively.

They have 4 types of units for sale at the moment, 2 varieties of superlink homes and 2 of the semi-D kind.

Alicia – This is a double storey superlink home, on a 26’ x 80’ plot. The build-up is 2,408sq.ft which is leaves plenty of yard and front lawn space. There is a small garden enclave next to the entrance foyer. We like the spacious living room and kitchen design, there are in total 4 bedrooms. Prices start at RM525,346.

Amanda – A slight variation to the above type, but with a bigger 2771sq.ft build up. It has a second guest room downstairs in place of the entrance foyer and garden enclave. The master bedroom has a large walk-in closet. Starts at RM575,566.

Amalur – A step up, this is named a ‘semi-D villa’. It is actually a 2 ½ storey semi-D home on an ample 50’ x 80’ plot, build up is 4,062sq.ft. In all there are 7 bedrooms and 7 baths. All rooms have attached bahs except maid’s downstairs. Kitchen is super big. It will set you back slightly over a cool million to own one… (starting at RM1,001,506 actually). Suits large 3-generation families, with rooms on all three floors.

Aurelia – A larger version of Amalur, this one has 4,334sq.ft of floor space. Priced from RM1,056,376. But in terms of façade, we prefer Amalur. Here, the top floor juts out awkwardly.

On the whole, the overall architectural feel is quite different from other development, they have opted for a East meets West fusion Andalusian touch. Whether or not its really Andalusian, we can’t really tell, but we were quite impressed with the look and feel (together with the landscaping), a lot better than some the hodge podge architectural melting pot we’ve seen in other places. But then again, it’s all personal tastes, different people like different things.

Staying in Shah Alam kinds of need a leap of faith for most people we know. While it may not be a hot as other areas like Subang, Puchong or Damansara, it has its own appeal. The city is generally a peaceful one, with its low density homes and wide roads. On the downside, these homes are on leasehold land. The project is very near the flood-prone area of Batu Tiga / Taman Mesra, but we expect the developer has taken this into account in the design.

Lebar Daun is going great guns in the city of Shah Alam at the moment. They have another project nearby, Bukit Bandaraya.

Another Lebar Daun project reviewed by us before is Taman Dato Demang:
Taman Dato Demang Phase 2
Taman Dato Demang Phase 3